Third Generation Rights: What Islamic Law Can Teach the International Human Rights Movement

Debate over the universality of human rights has typically focused on the extent to which international human rights law differs from local cultural practices and has generally sought to resolve these differences in favor of the international paradigm. Less attention, however, has been given to arguments that the international human rights paradigm may have something to learn from non- Western legal systems. This Article focuses on one such area: the conceptualization of individual duties to the community. In conventional human rights law, rights are explicit, while corresponding duties are often implicit, controversial, and poorly theorized.

In contrast, the Islamic legal tradition offers a sophisticated paradigm of common ideals grounded in individual duties. The Article argues that a reconciliation of the rights-based and duties-based paradigms is both possible and necessary to render justiciable third generation "solidarity" rights, such as the right to development, the right to a healthy environment, and the right to peace.